Ayden Tanner is tasked by the League of Invisible Knights to find the Pope who, despite extensive security, has disappeared.

The author, Khaled Talib, gave me a copy of this novel as an ARC in exchange for my review.

Okay, so there’s a lot more to the novel than the description above but isn’t that little snippet intriguing? Ayden, a former SAS commando officer, is thought to be dead when we meet him. He’s dyed his light hair dark and is reading about the pope’s disappearance on a plane. Ayden is one of those guys who is just way too cool for everything but not in an unlikable way. He’s Daniel Craig as Bond just looking to stay undetected, but the cool guys can never really fly under the radar, nor is that what they want.

What I know from following Talib on social media is that he is both a planner and researcher. The story takes place in Europe and I feel fairly confident that the places that appear in the book actually exist. Like Daniel Silva, there is a feeling of meticulous plotting. The level of description in Incognito is artful so that the reader is educated as well as entertained. No matter how much the plot twist may seem out of context, it fits and flows perfectly in the story. Talib isn’t a “where did that come from?” kind of author. How does a man as closely guarded as the pope disappear into thin air? That and all else is explained in wholly plausible detail.

There is a vast cast of characters and all are fleshed out. Ayden plays a central role and his character has to overcome massive obstacles in the goal of finding the pope for the League of Invisible Knights including some Medici-level political manipulations in the name of greed. The protagonist is an all powerful and all capable kind of entity who is terrifyingly realistic. It’s books like Incognito that leave the reader wary of the possibilities that the world around them holds. We see everyday people saying we’d be better off is this or that world leader were gone, but what if that what is waiting in the wings is worse? These are the questions Incognito will ignite.

For such a detailed thriller, Incognito is a sleek read. Standing at 268 pages, the flow is consistent and the story engaging. It’s one of those books that leave the reader in awe and looking forward to the next one. Often former journalists writing fiction can be stiff and “just the facts” in their approach, but Talib gives readers a complete experience.

If you’re looking for a wonderful thriller for #FathersDay or just a #Fridayreads gem, pick Incognito up today.